Suicide Squad #4

Last review of the week goes to Suicide Squad #4. It's not that I haven't enjoyed this series, it's been okay, I'm just not overwhelmingly interested in reading about anybody in this one. Unless I'm totally blown away here, this will probably be the last issue of this series I pick up.

Suicide Squad #4:

What Happened: The Squad infiltrate a Basilisk base in order to capture a doctor working for the Basilisk organization(makes sense, right?). Capt. Boomerang pretty much messes the entire mission up from the start(and yells “oi!” WAY too much...), but Deadshot and company manage to capture the doctor, but end up running into a mess of Basilisk goons and their squad leader, Grey Lora. Deadshot hands Boomerang over to Grey Lora since Boomerang had killed a friend of Grey Lora's, so Lora allows the Squad leave to leave with the doctor unmolested. Upon arriving back at Belle Reve, a doctor stupidly disarms Harley Quinn's nanite bombs before she was safely back in her cell. Amanda Waller angrily quarantines the other Squad members and has her men take Harley(who was strangely quiet after learning of Joker's “death”) inside. A few minutes later, Waller tells the Squad to get into the prison to quell a riot that was almost definitely started by Harley to cover her escape.

The Good: Captain Boomerang getting the shaft here was great. This comic moved along at a very brisk pace and was extremely easy to understand. The Squad members NOT named Boomerang continue to make a relatively good showing for themselves. The cliffhanger was good.

The Bad: The Basilisk was about the most blatant rip off of Hydra that I've even seen! Why not just use Kobra, which is a slightly less obvious rip-off of Hydra? “Hail Basilik!”? Really? It looks as if Harley Quinn will be leaving the series to head to Gotham, which would be a great shame, since she's developed into something other than Joker's perpetual underling here.

The Verdict: I enjoyed this comic book... However, I'm not sure if I enjoyed it enough to keep picking it up... I'm seriously on the fence with this series, and will take a good two weeks to seriously debate whether or not to continue following it. But this issue went a long way in making me want to stick with this series.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.HA! Take that, Boomerang!!

Suicide Squad #3

Two more new DC reviews to blitz through and then it's time for me to post... well, I'm not sure what, but I'll be posting something. But that's Monday and Tuesday, let's take care of today first.

Suicide Squad #3:

What Happened: After a quick battle with Mad Dog and some of his goons, the Suicide Squad finally manage to get the baby they were told to acquire last issue to their higher ups. With Voltaic dead and Black Spider wounded, they are given two new members for their next job, somebody named Yo-Yo and Capt. Boomerang. This issue ends with Boomerang telling the Squad that Waller had placed him in charge and that she had given him the detonator for the bombs implanted in the neck's of the Squad members.

The Good: The story was good and brisk. I liked the little bits of character development we got with Black Spider and El Diablo. Deadshot possibly having the zombie virus is an interesting twist.

The Bad: Deadshot having sex with Harley Quinn?! UGH! I'm not exactly fond of Capt. Boomerang, but we'll see what happens with this version of Boomerang. I don't get why the team would leave King Shark behind and yet take Harley Quinn with them when they went shopping... She's rather conspicuous looking. You KNOW Yo-Yo is getting killed next!

The Verdict: Eh. This was another okay issue in a long line of them for me this week. There really wasn't anything special here that I'll remember come issue #4. Well, except for Deadshot and Harley Quinn going at it... That was frigging repulsive. This series is still on a short leash for me, but for now, it's safe for another issue.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Gah! Horrible!!

Suicide Squad #2

Unlike Superboy #1, this was a series that surpassed my expectations for it's first issue. Granted, I wasn't expecting much from the first issue(this was actually one of the DC reboots that I figured I'd be dropping after 3 issues), but instead I was treated to a strong story. Here's hoping the second issue continues the excellence.

Suicide Squad #2:

What Happened: The Suicide Squad have been dropped into a football stadium to find a woman who appeared to be spreading some sort of robo-zombie plague... Yes, robo-zombie. The Squad split up and fight their way through hordes of robo-zombies, ultimately discovering the woman responsible. It seems that the woman is pregnant, and the plague is being spread by her unborn infant. King Shark kills the woman, and Deadshot cuts the child out of the dead woman, since the child was what Squad leader Amanda Waller was after. Deadshot kills Squad member Voltaic so the government could blame the massacre at the stadium on him, but Deadshot is informed by Waller that she couldn't arrange a pickup for the team since Checkmate agents were on their way. Waller tells Deadshot that the only matter of importance was escaping with the baby and that the entire Squad was expendable.

The Good: The story here was strong. Deadshot is rapidly becoming a favorite character of mine in the new DCU. What's not to like about the Squad slaughtering a mess of robo-zombies? The cliffhanger was strong, as it leaves the Squad in a very precarious position, as well as establishes that anything can happen to (almost)any of the Squad members.

The Bad: Robo-zombies? Really? Why not make them singing vampires as well to try to fit in as much pop culture as humanly possible? I was a bit saddened to see Voltaic go. I was starting to warm up to him. The fact that the next issue is promising another team casualty isn't really that much of a draw since you know either El Diablo or more likely Black Spider will be the one getting killed.

The Verdict: Once again, I enjoyed this one. With this issue this series has managed to earn a permanent slot on my pull list, and passed my 3 issue test an issue early. So unless this series falls off dramatically and begins producing crap issue after issue, I'll be collecting this one for the foreseeable future. I do want to mention the weird little corner this series has backed itself into though... It's obvious that Deadshot, King Shark and Harley Quinn are the stars(they're the trio always featured on the covers!), and as such aren't getting killed. That kind of takes the suspense out of which Squad members will be dying going forward. This issue would have been better served by giving us a huge swerve, like King Shark getting offed, since that would make it seem like any character could be picked off. Killing a character who's only been around for an issue and a half doesn't really give you a “holy shit!” moment. And when Black Spider gets killed next issue(I'm betting on that right now!), it'll evoke another yawn from me.

Score: 8 out of 10.And it's a home run!

Suicide Squad #1

I'll continue my march towards Wednesday(and new comics!) with a look at another one of the rebooted DC books, Suicide Squad. I honestly have no expectations for this series going in, so I'll be looking at this one through completely unbiased eyes.

Suicide Squad #1:

What Happened: Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, El Diablo, Savant, Voltaic and Black Spider are being tortured by some goons in masks after a failed Suicide Squad mission. The goons want to know who was behind the Squad, and Savant eventually breaks, spilling his guts about everything he knew(the basics being the Squad members are a bunch of criminals who get to do some merc jobs for the government in order to get out of their cells). Once the goons hear that, they knock the rest of the Squad unconscious. The Squad members wake up sometime later in their gear and are told that the whole ordeal was a test to ensure that they wouldn't rat out their handlers if they were ever captured. From there, Amanda Waller gives the Squad their first mission, killing 60,000 people in a football stadium in Mississippi.

The Good: The premise of the Suicide Squad/Task Force X(the Squad's official government name) was always good, and it smartly wasn't altered here. Criminals get to do dirty work for the government in exchange for time away from their cells, nice and simple. Deadshot seems to be the Squad's leader, which is fine by me. I liked the mixture of new and old blood here. You have Deadshot, King Shark and Harley Quinn as DC veterans, with El Diablo, Black Spider and Voltaic as the newbies.

The Bad: What the HELL happened to Amanda Waller?! Does EVERY female comic book character have to look the exact same? One of the things I loved about Waller was her appearance, which was counter to pretty much every other supermodel looking comic character. Savant being the guy to rat out the team kind of annoyed me... I was hoping he'd make the team. There's really no sense in getting too invested in the new guys since you can almost guarantee one of them is getting offed within the first 6 issues.

The Verdict: I liked it. The story was simple and easy to follow, and this issue did what any good rebooted title SHOULD do, tell us about the main character/characters/team and leave us with a strong cliffhanger. Was it perfect? No, but it was good enough that it'll be one of the first #2 issues from DC I'll be reading next month.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Oh rats.

Avengers: The Initiative #31, Superman: World of New Krypton #11 & Blackest Night: Suicide Squad #67

I have three reviews on tap for tonight, two DC's and a Marvel. Two of these books were VERY good, while the third wasn't that bad, so all in all, this should be a rare happy post! Oh, and unless I get some new comics in the mail tomorrow, I can say for the first time in MONTHS that I've completely finished up my new comic pile! Sure I have a few recent issues of Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: Legacy and Moon Knight to read, but I doubt I'll want to read those books any time soon, if at all. Well, enough babble, here's the first review.

Avengers: The Initiative #31: Writer: Christos Gage. Pencils: Rafa Sandoval.

This issue opens with Norman "Marvel" Osborn calling Taskmaster and informing him that Osborn will be taking a trip to the Initiative compound the next day, and that if everything is on the up and up, Osborn may have some very good news for Taskmaster. Upon hanging up, Taskmaster runs around trying to get his band of villains into some semblance of order. After threatening and cajoling many Initiative members, Taskmaster runs into another long time Marvel c-list villain, Constrictor, and asks to speak to him privately. Constrictor and Taskmaster talk, and Taskmaster reveals to Constrictor that he believes Osborn is going to offer him a promotion, but he isn't sure if he should take it. You see, Taskmaster is more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he's happy to steal some loot and that's that. If he were to accept the promotion, he'd be throwing his lot in with the world conquering, ultra crazy villains, which is something Taskmaster wasn't sure he wanted to do. After conversing with Constrictor, Taskmaster makes up his mind and the two part. The following day, Osborn arrives at the compound, checks things out and offers Taskmaster a promotion, and a spot on the Cabal, which he graciously accepts. From there we get a recap of what happened in Siege: The Cabal where the Dr. Doom robot blasts the hell out of Taskmaster and leaves him in a pool of blood. Taskmaster awakens a few days later in a hospital bed and is greeted by Osborn. Taskmaster tells Osborn that he isn't cut out to be a member of the Cabal, and asks to leave, which infuriates Osborn. Osborn ruptures Taskmaster's oxygen tank and pulls a lighter, telling Taskmaster to rethink his request. Taskmaster tells Osborn he'll remain on board, and this issue concludes with Osborn informing Taskmaster that he was going to invade Asgard.

There were a few other secondary storylines that were advanced here as well, such as the Avengers Resistance team(basically the former New Warriors)learning of Osborn's plans to attack Asgard right before he launched his attack, Tigra continuing her one woman attack against the Hood's goons, and Justice and Ultra Girl rekindling their romance. Needless to say, this comic was packed full of stuff, and all of it was really good! The dialogue was wonderful, I especially enjoyed the conversation between Taskmaster and Constrictor, which did a great job of showing that not all super-villains were insane, out of control lunatics, but were just trying to make ends meet(albeit in an immoral way). I'll tell you, when this series goes to the big comic shop in the sky, I for one am going to be quite upset.

Score: 9 out of 10.I guess Dr. Doom didn't like the fact that Taskmaster showed up at the Cabal meeting also wearing a cape and cowl!

Superman: World of New Krypton #11: Writers: James Robinson and Greg Rucka. Pencils: Pete Woods.

We start this issue with an assassin narrowly missing Alura and killing her assistant instead. Adam Strange, Superman and his military guild investigate the crime scene and find the murder weapon laying conveniently in the open, complete with a set of fingerprints, the fingerprints of the head of the labor guild, Tam-Or. Supes meets up with the panicking Kryptonian ruling council and tells them that although Tam-Or's prints were discovered on the gun, he feels things just don't add up. The council members argue a bit, and the military council representative warns Supes to get to the bottom of the assassinations. Supes decides to check on the still healing General Zod, and proceeds to tell Zod all about the assassinations and the main suspect. Upon hearing everything, Zod tells Supes that he doesn't believe Tam-Or is guilty. Supes agrees, and decides to try to find Tam-Or to see if he can point him in the direction of the real killer. Supes and Adam head to the infirmary and find Tyr, a member of the labor guild who used to be a friend of Supes before he turned on him for Gen. Zod(it's a LONG story!). Tyr is sitting at the bedside of a dying labor guild member who had come down with a strange disease that was only affecting members of the labor guild. Supes explains that he feels Tam-Or is innocent of the murder charges that are pointing towards him, and that he needs to speak to the man. Tyr agrees to take Supes and Adam to Tam-Or's hideout, which is a secret military installment where bizarre experiments were taking place on various aliens. Supes is shocked at the existence of such a place, and Tyr is surprised that as the acting head of the military guild Supes was unaware of the installment. Supes and company find Tam-Or, and Supes convinces him to go back with him so they could clear his and the labor guild's name. Before Supes and company can go anywhere, the military council member, along with several members of the military guild show up and tell Supes they'll handle things from this point on. Supes balks at that and tells them he's the acting head of the military guild, but is shocked to learn Gen. Zod had returned to active duty mere minutes prior and that Supes was no longer the acting head of the military! This issue ends with the military members preparing to shoot and kill Supes, Adam, Tam-Or and Tyr for crimes against New Krypton.

Wow, this series sure picked up BIG TIME this issue! The interesting thing about the end of this issue is that we don't know for sure that Zod had ordered the military guild members to shoot at Supes and company. That's been my favorite thing about this series actually, the way Gen. Zod has managed to walk the line between good and evil. On Earth, you know Gen. Lane is evil. He enslaves people, kills indiscriminately and does all around villainous things. On the other hand, Zod is beloved on New Krypton and hasn't really show that he is interested in anything other then defending his homeworld. Even Superman's opinion of Zod has changed over the course of this maxi-series. Has Zod been playing puppet master since the beginning? Is he finally enacting his endgame on Superman and the labor guild, or are rogue elements in the military guild responsible for what has occurring at the conclusion of this issue? I for one can't wait to find out those answers in the next issue.

Score: 9 out of 10.Man, those Kryptonian religious guild members are just plain creepy looking...

Blackest Night: Suicide Squad #67: Writers: Gail Simone and John Ostrander. Artist: J. Calafiore.

We begin with the Fiddler coming back to life as a Black Lantern and deciding that he wanted to get revenge on Deadshot. From there the current Suicide Squad fails a mission to kill a drug lord mainly because Deadshot's replacement on the team, Yasemin, is still green. Upon learning of their failure, Waller decides that she'll get Deadshot back in her employ, whether he wants to or not. To that end, she secretly hires Deadshot's current team, the Secret Six, to break some drug lord out of Belle Reve prison. The Six arrive at the prison and break in, but instead of being met by simple prison guards, they are attacked by the Suicide Squad. Deadshot runs into Rick Flag, who informs him that Waller had set the entire situation up in order to tell Deadshot that she wanted him to rejoin the Squad. Deadshot shoots Flag in the chest as his answer(HA!)and then proceeds to shoot his replacement, Yasemin(double HA!). After shooting Yasemin, Deadshot is pistol whipped and knocked out by Flag, who was obviously wearing a bulletproof vest. This issue ends with the Black Lantern Fiddler heading to Belle Reve prison with a bunch of Black Lantern rings, which began to resurrect the fallen members of the Squad that were being kept there.

This was a pretty good comic, but it was pretty much devoid of Black Lanterns with the exception of the first two pages and the last. I was kind of hoping for a big Black Lantern Suicide Squad vs Deadshot brouhaha, but I guess that will have to wait until the next issue of the Secret Six comic. Although I was a bit let down by the lack of a Deadshot/BL Suicide Squad showdown, the rest of this comic was quite good. To be honest, I actually enjoyed the parts of this comic that featured Amanda Waller(who is woefully underutilized!)and the Suicide Squad more then the Secret Six parts. I think the reason for that is because #1, I hate Black Alice and #2, Ragdoll is becoming SO over-the-top that he's starting to irritate me. Besides those small complaints, I liked this comic and I'll be looking forward to the continuation of this story in the monthly Secret Six comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Catman vs Bronze Tiger, let the fur fly!